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Edward Coote Pinkney
| birth_place = London, England | death_date = April | death_place = Baltimore, Maryland | occupation = Sailor Lawyer Poet | movement = | genre = | notableworks = | influences = | influenced = | spouse = | relatives = }} Edward Coote Pinkney (October 1, 1802 - April 11, 1828) was an American poet, lawyer, sailor, academic, and editor. Life Overview Pinkney was born in London, where his father was U.S. ambassador. Pinkney made his way to Maryland. After attending college, he joined the United States Navy and traveled throughout the Mediterranean and elsewhere. He then attempted a law career but was unsuccessful and attempted to join the Mexican army, though he never did. He wrote a number of light graceful short poems, but fell a victim to ill-health and a morbid melancholy at 25. His longest poem is Rodolph (1825).John William Cousin, "Pinkney, Edward Coote," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910, 302. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 18, 2018. Critic and poet Edgar Allan Poe supported Pinkney's work after his death, quoting from his poetry in a lecture series. Poe also suggested Pinkney would have been more successful had he been a New Englander rather than a Southern writer. Youth Pinkney was born on October 1, 1808,Melton, Wrightman F. "Edward Coote Pinkney", Library of Southern Literature, vol. 14. Martin & Hoyt Company, 1909: 4063. in London, where his father William Pinkney was U.S. ambassador. His mother was the sister of Commodore John Rodgers.Hubbell, Jay B. The South in American Literature: 1607-1900. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1954: 301. Pinkney lived in London until he was eight and later attended St. Mary's College of Maryland. Career In the fall of 1815, 14-year-old Pinkney joined the United States Navy as a midshipman until 1824, during which time he traveled to Italy, northern Africa, the West Indies, and both coasts of South America. His defiance of what he called arbitrary authority got him in trouble occasionally.Simonini, Rinald C. Souther Writers: Appraisals in Our Time. Ayer Company Publishers, 1964: 12. ISBN 0-8369-0054-5 In 1824, two years after the death of his father, he left the Navy, married, and was admitted to the bar in Maryland. Though he was well respected in his abilities as a lawyer, he had few clients and the business failed.Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The Poets and Poetry of America, 3rd edition. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1843: 231. His wife, Georgiana McCausland, would become a supportive and inspirational figure to him.Melton, Wrightman F. "Edward Coote Pinkney", Library of Southern Literature, vol. 14. Martin & Hoyt Company, 1909: 4066. After serving without a salary as the Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Maryland, Pinkney traveled to Mexico with the intention of joining the navy there. Disheartened after not being able to join, he returned to Baltimore. There, he became editor of a new semiweekly newspaper the Marylander— a publication originally founded to support the re-election of John Quincy Adams.Hubbell, Jay B. The South in American Literature: 1607-1900. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1954: 302. Its first issue was published December 3, 1827.Melton, Wrightman F. "Edward Coote Pinkney", Library of Southern Literature, vol. 14. Martin & Hoyt Company, 1909: 4064. His editorial association nearly brought him into a duel with the editor of Philadelphia-based Mercury, a publication which supported Andrew Jackson.Bain, R. and Joseph M. Flora, Jr. and Louis D. Rubin. Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary. Louisiana State University Press, 1980: 357. ISBN 0-8071-0390-X Afflicted with depression, Pinkney died on April 11, 1828, at the age of 25. He was originally buried in Baltimore's Unitarian Cemetery but, in May 1872, his body was moved to Green Mount Cemetery. Writing Pinkney is often compared with the Cavalier poets. He wrote a number of light, graceful, short poems, his longest being "Rodolph", which was published anonymously in 1825. His first full collection of poetry was published the same year. He was influenced by the work of Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Walter Scott, and other European writers. He was not influenced by American poets.Hubbell, Jay B. The South in American Literature: 1607-1900. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1954: 303. He was also inspired by classical works, and made several references to Ovid, Herodotus, Horace, and Petrarch. Critical reputation Poet John Greenleaf Whittier was an admirer of Pinkney's workWagenknecht, Edward. John Greenleaf Whittier: A Portrait in Paradox. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967: 111. as was Edgar Allan Poe, who used one of his poems, "A Health", to publicly woo Sarah Helen Whitman at a lecture in December 1848.Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991: 384. ISBN 0-06-092331-8 Poe mentions "A Health" in his essay "The Poetic Principle" to exemplify his own aesthetic theory and the association between whiteness, purity, and love.Erkkila, Betsy. "The Poetics of Whiteness: Poe and the Racial Imagery", Romancing the Shadow: Poe and Race (J. Gerald Kennedy, editor). New York: Oxford University Press, 2001: 66. ISBN 0-19-513711-6 He wrote that Pinkney would have been better appreciated if he had been born in New England: :It was the misfortune of Mr. Pinckney to have been born too far south. Had he been born a New Englander, it is probable that he would have been ranked as the first of American lyrists, by that magnanimous cabal which has so long controlled the destinies of American Letters".Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 165. ISBN 0-86576-008-X "A Health" was also praised in The Athenaum as "one of the prettiest things in American poetry" while another contemporary magazine put Pinkney among the top five poets of the United States at the time.Melton, Wrightman F. "Edward Coote Pinkney", Library of Southern Literature, vol. 14. Martin & Hoyt Company, 1909: 4065. The North American Review in January 1842, though questioning of the moral tone of "Rodolph" concluded, "The author evidently has much of the genuine spirit of poetry; his thoughts are occasionally bold and striking; some passages are wrought with much felicity of expression and clothed with a rich and glowing imagery... and despite a few minor imperfections, a highly poetical vein runs through the whole performance". Recognition Pinkney was included in Rufus Wilmot Griswold's influential anthology, The Poets and Poetry of America, in 1842. Publications Poetry *''Rodolph: A fragment. Baltimore, MD: Joseph Robinson, 1823. *''Poems. Baltimore, MD: Joseph Robinson, 1825, 1838; New York: Arno Press, 1972. *''The Miscellaneous Poems of Edward Coate Pinkney: with a biographical sketch'' (edited by Nathaniel Parker Willis and William Leggett). New York: Morris, Willis, 1844. Collected editions *''The Life and Works of Edward Coote Pinkney: A memoir and complete text of his poems and literary prose, including much never before published'' (edited by Thomas Olive Mabbott & F.L. Pleadwell). New York: Macmillan, 1926. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[[Search results = au:Edward Coote Pinkney, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 3, 2013. See also *List of U.S. poets References *''The Life and Works of Edward Coote Pinkney: A memoir and complete text of his poems and literary prose, including much never before published]'' (edited by Thomas Olive Mabbott & F.L. Pleadwell). New York: Macmillan, 1926. Notes External links ;Poems *Edward Coate Pinkney in the Yale Book of American Verse: "Song (We break the glass, whose sacred wine)," "A Serenade," "A Health," "Widow's Song," "Parting" *Edward Coote Pinkney at Poets' Corner (4 poems) *Edward Coote PInkney at PoemHunter (5 poems) ;Books *Edward Coote Pinkney at the Online Books Page *Edward Coote Pinkney at Amazon.com ;About *Edward Coote Pinkney at Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry * Edward Coote Pinkney in the Virginia Quarterly Review * Category:American poets Category:St. Mary's Seminary and University alumni Category:Burials at Green Mount Cemetery Category:1802 births Category:1828 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Poets who died before 30